Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Homeless man beaten to death in jail cell

A 35-year-old homeless man, being held on charges of being drunk and disorderly, was found dead in his cell in a Louisiana jail, apparently beaten to death.

He was also stripped of all his clothing.

His three cellmates are being questioned in connection with what police are treating as a homicide.

Before his arrest, Brian G. Armstrong had been staying at the Lighthouse Mission, an Opelousas men's shelter.

Opelousas Police Chief Perry Gallow said all four men were suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their arrests and it is common for such prisoners to be housed in a group holding cell until they sober up.

9 Comments:

My sentiments exactly! Isn't someone in jail supposed to be under the care and supervision of the state?

Same thing with this 22-year-old kid who allegedly committed suicide recently in the Leon County Jail.

The Tallahassee Democrat did only a brief at first and I e-mailed Editor Bob Gabordi and said "I hope you're planning a full story on this" and his response was (and I paraphrase): No, suicides are private matters and what good would that do the family?

A suicide in jail is a private matter????

Bob later did another short story but has yet to explain how this kid hung himself with a shoelace tied around a doorknob.

He quoted jail officials as saying they planned to do a "routine investigation." At least they don't try to hide their complacency with fancy talkin' over here in Leon County.

The man that was murdered in that jail was my brother, he was not homeless tho, he always had a home to come to,he just wanted to go and explore things and try to do better for himself,the family appreciates all of the support from the editor of the Daily World paper and every one else

They are very negligent at the Opelousas City Jail. I was an inmate there and witnessed many beatings by one, or more inmates, on other lone inmates. It is an extremely violent and dangerous place to be. The jailers do not check on inmates' welfare. Guys would get beaten and sit for 10-12 hours before it was discovered that a violent crime was committed.

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